A/N: Ah, this is the first time I've attempted to write a Red X/Raven story, and since I only got into this couple recently, I hope it meets you hardcore shippers' standards. :3

Chapter 1: Hey Cutie

Never in Raven's life did she imagine herself to be in this situation. Well, not so much her present situation of being in a bathroom, but just the situation of being held captive in general. Disturbingly enough, Raven had no idea how and why she was a hostage in the first place. In fact, she couldn't even remember how she got in this house. One minute she was at Titans Tower, and the next, she ended up here.

The fear of not knowing anything was starting to dawn on her, and the feeling to projectile vomit was coming back to her as well. Raven needed tea and her books… fast.

Thankfully, she was able to at least obtain solitude. Her captor had left her alone in the apartment momentarily; rather confident she wouldn't leave while he was gone.

To her puzzlement, she could never figure out why she was chosen by this villain in the first place. He wasn't anyone that held a particular grudge against Raven, or at least one she knew of. He never even uttered a word to Raven in battle each time they had met.

Robin was more of his focus, but then again, Robin was everyone's focus nowadays. Sometimes she wondered why the boy wonder was so popular; maybe it was his affiliation with Batman, or some old grudge back when the Titan was in Gotham. Or, perhaps it was because Robin was the leader, and if the villain took down the leader, he could most definitely take down the rest of the team easily.

Her captor's second focus was Starfire. Raven wasn't really surprised; most villains seem to flirt with Starfire during fights.

Turning the water off, Raven stepped out of the shower, wrapping the towel around her body snugly. Hot showers were a semi-good replacement for hot tea, but still not enough to release her pent up stress. Wringing her short dark hair, she reached for her uniform.

Disregarding the present situation, Raven wasn't the type to invade a person's (let alone a villain's) home by occupying their shower for long periods of time. But he had invited her to use whatever resources she needed to "make herself at home", and she planned to take advantage of that. Raven rolled her eyes while reflecting on their short conversation before he left. Honestly, the man was either a terrible villain, or a nutcase, if he was one, allowing her to shower in his home, two, basically telling her it was okay to wreck his house, and three, leaving her alone to do whatever she pleased.

Raven didn't mind it that much though. Being alone was her forte, and she could finally relax without Beast Boy blasting his music in the background, or Cyborg yelling at the TV.

Pulling on her leotard and cape, Raven quickly got dressed, and walked over to a room with a large window. Due to the inconvenient 'x' placed firmly over her mouth, she couldn't get herself up in the air to float, nor could she control her emotions by repeating the usual mantra. Frustrated beyond belief, Raven ended up sitting cross-legged on the floor, taking deep breaths through her nose.

"Hey, Cutie."

Raven didn't move. Her fists were clenching and the hatred she had for said person was increasing.

"Miss me?"

The taunting voice of Red X was enough to make Raven rip her hair out, and throw herself out the window. But Raven quickly ruled out both options after taking in account that she couldn't fly, and also that she kind of liked her hair the way it was.

If she weren't so angry at the person standing at the doorway, she would of speculated on why he had called her "cutie" instead of some other nickname. "Cutie" was a name he reserved for Starfire; girls he liked. He never called Raven anything special; he didn't even call her by her name. Did he even know her name?

"You're being quiet, Birdie. What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"

He was mocking her again. Aggravated, Raven put her fingers at the corners of the "x" and pulled as hard as she could, trying to get it off her mouth.

"Look, Sunshine, I'll make you a deal. I'll remove that thing off your face, if you promise not to run away."

Raven stopped tugging, and folded her arms across her chest, giving him an incredulous look. She had no idea which she was more irritated by; the 'x' on her face, or the miscalculations of her kidnapper. Did he expect her to stick around once granted the full ability to use her powers? She would fight, and she would fly back home.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Pulling once again, Raven tried to get the contraption off of her. How was it that this thing could stick to her face so well?

"It's not going to come off, Birdie, so might as well give up."

Raven stopped pulling at the "x", knowing that Red X was right. She could always lie to him, tell him she wouldn't leave, but do it anyway once it was off. Then again, he could place it right back over her mouth just like he usually did.

"You look kind of cute when you're annoyed."

Raven stared hesitantly at the masked man. She couldn't tell if he actually meant it, or if he was just joking.

Raven had never been called "cute" before, and for this stranger, for this enemy, to call her such a name… well it was odd. She had been an outcast, a demon, all her life and such flattery was not something she was accustomed to.

If what he said was supposed to be a compliment, that is.

There was a moment of silence as Red X contemplated on what to say next. Raven, on the other hand,had a lot of things to say without the need of contemplation, but unfortunately, if she tried talking, all her words would sound muffled and incoherent.

"You know, you're no fun when you can't talk," Red X began slowly, thinking as he said it. "But I can't have you flying away."

Throwing her hands up in the air in both annoyance and disbelief, Raven stomped past him, their shoulders brushing slightly.

"This is not like Friend Raven to not come out of her room all day," Starfire said worriedly.

The Titans were eating waffles in the kitchen, and despite her cold demeanor, Raven had always showed up to eat with the team. Always, until now.

"Yeah, and she loves my waffles!" Cyborg remarked, stuffing his fork in his mouth.

"Dude!" Beast Boy yelled, as Cyborg stole a waffle from his plate.

Terra giggled and took a waffle from Beast Boy while he was shouting at Cyborg. When the green changeling returned his eyes back to his plate, he immediately noticed the missing waffle and eyed the room suspiciously.

"Who did it?" Beast Boy asked accusingly, glancing at Cyborg in the back of his eye to make sure the sneaky half-robot wouldn't take another.

Even though it was quite obvious that Terra had stolen the waffle, the love struck shape shifter refused to blame it on her. Ever since she had regained her memory, Beast Boy had been extremely protective of her to prevent another tragic incident from happening.

"Oh calm down, BB, there's tons more over there," Terra smiled sweetly, pointing to the plate of waffles sitting on the counter.

"Friends!"

By this time, Starfire had gotten incredibly frustrated with the team, and resorted to standing up and yelling to hold their short attention spans.

"We should do the looking for Raven! She has not come out of her room all day!"

Standing up, Robin put a comforting hand on Starfire's shoulder, making her distressed face soften.

"Look, I'll go talk to Raven, I'm sure she just wants to be by herself today," Robin said calmly, leaving the kitchen to Raven's room.

This was not anything new to Robin; he seemed to be always the one who talked to Raven when she was feeling down, or just when she needed him. It wasn't that the others were scared of Raven; it was just that he was the only one who understood her.

Robin knocked on Raven's door politely. "Raven, you all right?"

No answer.

Robin waited about ten seconds, before knocking a bit louder. "Raven?"

No answer.

Knocking even louder, Robin practically shouted at the door in such a high volume that it was no doubt everyone in the tower, and the rest of the city, could hear him.

Knitting his eyebrows together, he stared at the door as if it should open in a second or two. However, the door did not move.

"Friend Robin, are you the oh of kay?" Starfire peeped, zooming up next to Robin.

"I don't think she's in there," Robin announced sullenly, causing Starfire to gasp.

"Then where could she be? Should we do the looking?"

Robin nodded, kicking the door open so that it fell to the ground. He hated snooping around in Raven's room, only because a lot of the time, he could identify with the girl. He, himself, hated it when people went snooping in his room, maybe not to the full extent of Raven's hatred for the action, but still.

"Robin, come look," Starfire said softly while Robin sifted through Raven's dresser.

Noticing the nervous and unsteady voice, Robin rushed over to see what was wrong, and saw Starfire pointing to a large red "X" sitting on Raven's bed.